No plastic, no paint, nowhere. Klean Kanteen touts…

Klean Kanteen touts this bottle as one of their uber-sustainable products. Like all other Klean Kanteen products, this bottle is made of stainless steel (18/8 in this case), but what makes this bottle unique is that it only contains two other materials -— a small silicone ring (food-grade, of course) on the cap to create a tight seal and a bamboo top (sustainably harvested, they say) on the cap.

Pros

Threading is durable, wide, and won't wear out.

Mouth is not too wide nor too narrow. Just perfect.

Looks sharp, for a water bottle anyway.

No worry about BPA or other plastic toxins

Sturdy D-Ring allows for clipping-on point

Cons

Condensates with ice cold liquids

A bit pricey for an uninsulated water bottle

Size and Weight: Holds 27 fl. oz. (800mL) and is on the more tall and skinny end of most water bottles I've used (9.75"x 2.75"). It easily fits into the water bottle pouches of both packs I own (Osprey Atmos 65 and Talon 22), on my bike's bottle holder, as well as any car cup holder I've tried so far. Also easy to carry by the D-ring on lid.

A comparison of the Klean Kanteen Reflect 27 oz. (center) with other bottles. As you can see, it's taller and skinnier than other commonly used bottles.

Mouth: Easy on the mouth, with no sharp edges and wide enough to fit a standard sized ice cube but not much more. If you're familiar with Nalgene's two standard mouth sizes — that is, wide-mouth where you have to get the little sippy thing so you don't spill all over yourself (see above photo far left) and narrow-mouth where you have have to break up the ice to jam it in (see above photo far right), this bottle's mouth size is somewhere nicely in-between.

The bottle's mouth is very close to 1.75 inches or 4.45 cm. Perfect for getting ice in, but not so big that your nose gets wet when taking a drink.

As you can see, it's easy to fit ice into this bottle. No need to break the ice first.

Cap: Easy twist-off cap where the metal D-ring acts as handle to twist the cap on and off. The ring also acts as something to clip onto. The bamboo top on the cap is purely decorative and never comes in contact with water in the bottle. I could have done without the bamboo, but it probably does look nicer than had they left it off. I'll slather some mineral oil on the bamboo every now and again just to make sure it doesn't dry out. I do this on all wood products in the kitchen (ie: cutting board, knife handles, drying rack, etc.) so this isn't exactly going to add any work for me.

In this photo you can see the only two materials other than stainless steel, 1) the bamboo cap and 2) the silicon ring that helps create a tight seal.

The screw cap is the main reason why I bought this bottle. I was sick of having stainless bottles that featured cheap plastic caps or threads that would eventually strip away and become useless. The threads on this cap are built right into the same piece of stainless steel as the bottle. Likewise with the threading on the cap. The threading is very wide, easy to catch and I don't foresee any possible way for it to wear out, unless I somehow severely dented the bottle in the threading area, which would take a lot of pressure to do so.

With its wide threads built into the same piece of steel. The cap is impossible to mis-thread when putting on. The wide, built-in threads are the main reason I purchased this bottle.

Condensation: This bottle is single-walled uninsulated, therefore should not be used with hot liquids. When ice cold liquids are put in it, it will perspire, or condensate on the outside.

Here are a couple additional photos to get a sense for its use.

Conclusion: Although it felt strange to spend $30 on a water bottle, this has served both my wife and I well. It is durable and seals tightly. No leaks whatsoever. Easy to clean with no lingering smells from non-water liquids whatsoever. The sturdy D-Ring allows me to clip/tie it on a variety of things including pack loops, strung hammock lines and more. With no plastic parts, I suspect this will hold up for years, but only time will tell.

So far, it's gone on a number of day trips, one overnight trip and a couple mountain biking excursions. At 27 oz. I always take another bottle along as well. The Reflect is nice enough looking for my wife to take it to work everyday.

AND fits in the car cup holder. Believe it or not, that's a selling point. I always pre-fill at home to begin hiking with full, clean bottles - and have tried fitting Platys in the car. Talk about a square peg in a round hole! Nice review, Kiwi, and the stainless design probably would appeal to survivalists and bustcrafters, too (especially if someone came up with a bail handle mod for this).

Eric, it didn't dawn on me to see if it fits the car cup holder until after I bought it, but I am thankful it does. For all the road trips we go on, it's nice not to have a bottle sloshing around by the passengers feet. It is perk indeed.

4 years ago

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